Iraq Profitable Business for Bush's Ex-Spies

Armitage, Tenet, Black cash in on outsourcing of intelligence

(Newser)
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Richard Armitage rarely saw eye-to-eye with the Bush administration on the Iraq war, but these days he may be more sanguine. That’s because Armitage has profited handsomely from his own national security consulting firm, as well stakes in a dozen private defense and intelligence companies that do business with the CIA, NSA, and others. Across Washington, top spies and officials are jumping to private sector gigs, writes Tim Shorrock in his new book Spies for Hire.

Seven of every 10 dollars America now spends on intelligence actually goes to private corporations, where ex-government employees often do the same jobs they used to do—for double the salary. “It's unseemly, and what's worse is that it has become normal,” said one intelligence expert. “The Intelligence Community and the contractors are so tightly intertwined that their interests are identical.”

In this Monday April 30, 2007, file photo, George Tenet, former CIA director, listens during an interview in New York. Tenet made nearly $3 million last year advising private intelligence firms.
(AP Photo)

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage looks on during a bill-signing ceremony Thursday, November 6, 2003, at the White House.
(KRT Photos)

Then-CIA director George Tenet waits to make his statement to a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during a hearing about worldwide threats to national security, in a Feb. 7, 2001 photo.
(AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert, file)

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